Female ancestral figure, one of a pair

Most Balinese sculpture is of stone or wood; bronze statues are uncommon. Although we do not know where these images came from, a group of comparable images was considered so sacred it was kept hidden in a temple until an attempted theft brought it to light in 1928. The purpose of these figures is not entirely certain. It seems likely, though, that they represented deceased ancestors, and were used in a funeral or memorial ritual.

The people of Bali embraced Hinduism more than a thousand years ago. However, they adapted it by mixing in local beliefs in which reverence for ancestors had an important part. The Balinese have maintained this sort of Hinduism to the present, while most of the rest of Indonesia, over many centuries, has converted to Islam.